IBM introduced the Selectric typewriter on July 31, 1961. Its central innovation was a spherical typing element that rotated and tilted to select characters, replacing the basket of separate type bars. The element moved across the page while the paper carriage stayed in place. Changing the element also allowed the same machine to use different typefaces.
Eliot Noyes was responsible for the industrial design. IBM’s history describes his interest in the example of Olivetti’s writing machines. The original Selectric has a shaped outer shell that draws the keyboard, paper path, and operating mechanism into a compact whole. The photograph shows the rounded first-generation form, rather than the more angular Selectric II introduced later.
The Selectric adds a different kind of design problem to the archive: the visible enclosure had to express a substantial change in the machinery beneath it. Compared with a manual Olivetti typewriter, its stationary carriage and moving type element alter the action of typing even where the familiar rows of keys remain.
Olivetti Valentine portable typewriter
